The most popular name to give a baby girl last year was Emily, for the 12th straight year. Jacob was the most popular boys’ name for the 9th straight year. (See the Social Security Administration press release.)
According to SSA data, in the prime Boomer birth year of 1952, the most popular names for girls and boys were Linda and James, respectively. Emily and Jacob did not crack the Top 100. In fact, Emily and Jacob did not make it into the Top 100 until 1973 and 1974 respectively.
Linda, #1 for girls in the early 1950s, now ranks 496th in popularity. James stayed in the Top 5 boys’ names until 1980, and is still a respectable 15th.
Mitchell has never been very popular. I am not surprised. You get a sense of that growing up. Mitchell was 157th most popular boys’ name in 1952, and is 304th today. It did make the Top 100 for boys from 1988 – 1997, for what that’s worth. But at least the name is solidly identified with males, never making the Top 1,000 names for girls. As for Mitch, it hit its peak in 1961 when it came in 397th.
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